By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Researchers in the Okanagan are working to find a treatment for a skin disease in yilíkʷlxkn (bighorn sheep), as the animal’s population has been decimated in the region over the past two decades. A sheep pen at Penticton Indian Band (PIB) is the hub of a 12-to-18-month-long research project dedicated to developing a drug for treating Psoroptic mange. The life-threatening skin condition has resulted in “large scale die-offs” when it was introduced to the yilíkʷlxkn population in syilx territories around 20 years ago, explained Mackenzie Clarke, a senior tmixʷ (wildlife) biologist with the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA). “There was some really severe mange being seen in the population,” said Clarke. “They’ve had it for a number of years now, but we’re still…
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